One Week.

One week. That can seem like a lot of time, not enough time, or both at the same time. Enter me!

In exactly 1 week I leave for Punta Cana and in exactly 1 week I have to be at 50k for my Nano. The pressure is cracking down, I just hit 40k so I don't think it's too bad, though with all the stuff I'm doing this weekend and that I need to get done BEFORE I leave on vacation... Yikes. I want to be at 50k by the end of this weekend so next week I can focus on packing and getting stuff done before I leave.

My thoughts on NaNo nearing the end of week 3 and at 40k: It's been exhilarating, self-disciplining, frustrating, but I am enjoying it. Some of the stuff I have written is pretty good if I say so myself, but some of the stuff you spit out on a time crunch is your best work. The only thing I've found is how difficult it is with the simple things. Like remembering a character's last name. You know you mentioned it in the beginning, but seeing as you haven't re-read anything you've written yet (at least I haven't) you have to scroll just to find it. Not re-reading has probably made me make a few mistakes. But that's what next month and the months after that are for.

It's been a learning curve for sure; I never thought I would be able to write this much in such a short amount of time. I had low expectations of myself when I signed up for this, but have learned if I put my mind, fingers, much needed sleeping hours into it, I'm doing alright. I have surprised myself. It's been fun because you develop these characters so fast and pull things out of thin air to just make something to go off of. I know there are some parts where I need to elaborate more on or parts I need to change a bit, but I ignored it and just kept going. I have found that KEY in doing Nanowrimo. Don't ponder on what you've typed and DO NOT delete anything. If you must, just rewrite that scene or just keep going as if you already wrote it, or even go with what you put down, you may surprise yourself with how it can alter the story even better! Rule #4: Do not touch the delete key during your Nano. Unless it's to fix spelling mistakes from typing at Mach 1.

One thing I was incredibly surprised at is the character I *thought* and planned in my head to be the MAIN character, has actually developed to be the secondary character and my original secondary character has become the main one. I don't know how that happened, but I went with it and I think the story is better off this way.

What else have I learned so far... Take examples from real life and shove it into your story. Or if you see something happening on your way home, write that in too. Someone getting mugged, fire trucks parked outside of a building, a car accident... If you ever get stuck just throw in a random curve into your main character's plans. In the first part of my story I wasn't sure where I was going, then I was watching a show where a couple's car broke down and so in return, I made my main characters car break down on the side of the road. On a deserted highway. When they were running from something. Drama, problems, conflict... this will all buy you many, many words and can even strike you to take your story in another direction or beef it up even more.

Anyways, I should get back to writing seeing as I have some down time! Just had to post an update seeing as I've been lacking during this busy month.

Keep knocking on wood for me and sending me encouraging, inspiring thoughts!

-A